Product development

From the idea to the prototype to series production

Take advantage of our many years of project experience and our development expertise for your individual requirements: for the new design or specific modification of individual valves, complex valve blocks or complete systems. We support you from the concept idea through prototype construction to series production.

Individual solutions and components from RAPA are customer-specific products with individual requirements in terms of function and size. Sometimes small modifications are sufficient, in other cases completely new developments are necessary that are precisely tailored to the application. Our development services cover the entire product creation process – from concepts and prototypes to technical design during series development. Production planning and the development of operating resources are also part of our range of services.

Outsourced development center for top car manufacturer

The entire process, from pre-development and test series to the finished product in series production, takes place in-house at RAPA. RAPA Automotive acts as an external development center for its customers in the premium segment. In an intensive partnership based on the open innovation concept, the customer is involved in the open research, development and testing process at all times and receives advice from engineer to engineer at every step.

In the first phase, concepts and simulations are developed, calculations are made and basic research is carried out. This is followed in the second phase by tests on the life cycle, manufacturability and production processes. After each phase, an assessment is made as to whether the desired product performance can be realized. As thorough as these development phases are, RAPA is still fast in product development in order to be able to offer the customer the desired product in series maturity quickly.

Testing, production and assembly at the highest level

At its headquarters in Selb (Upper Franconia, Bavaria), RAPA has 2,500 m² of laboratory and validation space with state-of-the-art measuring and testing technology. Here, each valve is subjected to a fully automatic function test, during which the hydraulic properties are also measured. EOL test benches test the valves much more precisely than would be possible with humans. This guarantees customers maximum safety as well as reliable and precisely fitting system parts.

Around 90 percent of all necessary testing and validation procedures are carried out in-house in order to meet the special requirements of the automotive industry. Complex sequences with combined loads in terms of temperature, service life, climate and environment can be run in-house. The data obtained flows into computer simulation models and provides valuable insights even before the elaborate prototype construction begins.

As the company’s own ISO 17025-accredited quality and testing laboratory means that in-depth information on material properties and product behavior is quickly available, the development and manufacturing process can be rapidly advanced to series production. Numerous vehicle tests with set-up laps are carried out to optimize the subjective driving experience and chassis control.

RAPA relies on comprehensive quality management and has all the necessary automotive industry certifications such as IATF 16949, ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and EMAS. RAPA is also certified in accordance with the VDA quality management standard.

The key role of valves: Far-reaching influence on performance, costs and competitiveness

In addition to functional safety, valves also influence other performance data of a product: service life, size, weight, speed, precision, maintainability, noise and heat development, vibration, energy consumption and, last but not least, costs. In many cases, this makes it a strategically important component that helps shape the characteristics of the product and determines your business success in a competitive environment.